Tubular pile



. J. JOHNSON.

Tubular Pi -le No; 225,061. Patented Mar. 2, 188 0.

UNTTED- STATES PATENT O FICE.

JOB JOHNSON, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

TUBULAR Pl LE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 225,061, dated March 2, 1880.

Application filed November 17, 1879.

To allwhom it may concern:

Be it'known that I. J OB JOHNSON, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Tubular Piles, of which the following is a specification.

The objectof this invention is to facilitate the sinking of piles in sand, gravel, shale, or harder substances, to insure the vertical and central movement of such pile, to prevent in- IO jury to the inside of the pile by the action of moisture, to prevent the rise and fall of the tide acting to loosen the pile, and to prevent injury to the pile by the tools that are employed in sinking the same.

In the drawings, Figure l is a vertical section of the pile. Fig. 2 is an inverted plan of the point, and Fig. 3 is a sectional plan at the line 00 av.

The pile is made of a metal tube, a, of the desired diameter and length, either in one piece or coupled together, and at the bottom of the pile there is a shoe having a conical point, b, a horizontal disk, 0, two short vertical cylinders, cl and 0, upon the upper surface, and inclined cutting-blades ff. The lower end of the tubular pile a is entered into the annular space between the short cylinders d c, and is securely leaded therein. It may also be more firmly secured by bolts or keys, the ob- 30 ject being torender the tubular pile perfectly water-tight at the lower end and to prevent the parts working loose as the pile is revolved in sinking it.

The cutting-blades f extend at their upper end beyond the edge of the disk 0, so that in passing through shale, gravel, or hard substances the hole that is made by rotating the pile will be larger than the disk, and give opportunity for the same to descend freely, and also for the water and refuse material to rise, as hereinafter described.

This construction of penetrating-point is to be distinguished from those heretofore used,, where there were radial scrapers on a flat disk or conical scrapers with notched edges, as the scrapers did not in either case extend beyond the disk, and therefore did not clear the hole sufficiently for the disk to descend freely, and the conical point of the blades becomes a pivot on which the pile can be..revol-ved,'and it is in line with the axis ofthe tube; and hence the pile will descend vertically and will not become misplaced, as it would in cases where the scrapers do not come to a point.

In some instances the water-supply has been through the column, the delivery being central between the scrapers. In this instance a core of hard material will be left that may close the delivery-orifice.

In other instances the water-su 'iply has been by a pipe that passes through the disk at the lower end of the pile. In this instance the action of the water has not been central, and the pile is liableto be displaced.

I avoid both these difficulties by providing a central water-chamber, i, above the conical points of the scrapers, opening into the spaces between all the scrapers, and from this chamber the pipe 76-01 water-Way passes up in the shoe or point to the socket 1-, into which is screwed the lower end of the water-supply pipe m. Thereby the water is central in its action in washing away the materials from between all the scrapers simultaneously, and the pile is kept central as it is forced down, and the scrapers or blades drill into any hard substance, such as shale or rock, and make an opening sufiicient for the passage of the disk or shoe 0. It is to be understood that Water under a suitable pressure is forced through the pipe m, and that after the pile has been sunk the tube on can be unscrewed and used with the next pile. In sinking the pile it is necessary to rotate the same. I therefore provide a sectional clamping-drum that is made of two or more parts, a n, secured together by bolts 0, and there are inward ribs or flanges that extend from the cylindrical part of the pulley to the tubular pile, so that such ribs grasp and firmly hold the pile when the pulley is bolted together, and at the same time there are spaces between the ribs, through which the waterpipe 122 can pass. By this improvement the water-pipe is kept out of the way of the mechanism that acts upon the pulley n and rotates the pile.

The pulley and pilemay be rotated by a belt applied to the former and driven by suitable power, or a pipe-wrench may be applied to the cylindrical surface of the pulley.

The cap 8 of the pile is made with two short cylinders, 3 and 4, between which the upper end of the tubular pile is received and securely fastened by lead, so as to be air-tight, and through this cap is a hole with a "alveseat. The valve 1 fits this seat, and it may open either inwardly or outwardly. I either exhaust the air from the pile, so as to prevent the injurious effects of the atmosphere upon the inside, or else I force into the 'pile a preserving-fluid, that coats the interior of the pile or otherwise preserves the same from rust or injury.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, with a pile, of a shoe or drill-point having a disk with a conical point beneath it, and with radial blades uniting at a central point and their upper ends extending beyond the disk of the shoe, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The shoe for a pile having a disk, at conical point with radial blades, a cavity within the point, openings from the same between the blades, asocket outside the pile for the reception of a separate water-supply pipe, and a tubular water-way between the socket and .cavity, substantially as set forth.

JOB JOHNSON.

VVitn esses:

G150. T. PINCKNEY, HAROLD SERRELL. 

